The Treasures of Elbard: 4 (good)
Spoilers...
36 Pages.
$9.95
levels 8-9
Cover art is good, Maps are well done, interior art is good but a little dark (or at least is in my copy).
3 minor artifacts
A couple of new spider handling equipment items, skills and feats. Spider armor, Web knife, Mandible catcher, skill: web swinger
Basic concept... Party enters the forest kingdom of Elbard which fell to goblins in the past. They are trying to recover some lost treasures for various possible reasons (several adventure hooks given).
In their travels they come to a valley/chasm populated by all sorts of giant spiders. The catch is the halflings that lived in the old kingdom of Elbard were forced to retreat to this valley by the attacking goblins and with the help of a druid and ranger have learned to live with the spiders and now use the spiders to protect the valley from invaders. Oh yeah,...the halflings have the treasures.
Depending on the party, this could be a hack fest, or could involve a lot of role playing as the PCs interact with the halflings and the spiders. A party may be able to befriend some of the halflings and recover some of the treasures (the 3 minor artifacts) easily.
The adventure is a combo forest and cave adventure, with the halflings living in caves in the side of the valley connected by large strands of spiderweb. The valley floor is the domain of spiders and ocasional halflings.
furthermore, the halflings have evolved into a stratified society with different casts that have different duties.
There are the defenders who tend to look after the various spiders that the halflings have places through the valley as guardians.
There are the Envenomed who take potions that give them spiderlike qualities perhaps at the eventual cost of their sanity. They are the combat troops.
There are the Providers who gather food and supplies for all the other halflings in the valley.
Each cast lives in a different cave.
Depending on the party, the adventure hook and the encounters, the PC may be treasure hunters, kill everything that moves and recover the treasures, or may be heros gathering the treasure and lead the halflings back to society.
PCs who immediately befriend the halflings may just breeze through the adventure. This really depends on which halflings the PCs run in to and when, because some halflings attack on site. Other halflings will base their interaction with the PCs on the wanton distruction the PCs cause. Fighting in self defence and in a defensive manner won't hurt interaction too much.
I thought the NPC and creature blocks as well as the NPCish new spiders were well done and have interesting backgrounds.
I found the adventure interesting and will try to work parts of it if not the whole thing into my campaign.
I believe Monkey God is improving the quality of their products and the more recient ones are better than the early ones, with the exception of "Ruins of Rackfall" which I found to be very flat...but that will be another review.
ASEO out
